by Christian Duque
The world of bodybuilding and fitness received one of the most shocking pieces of news of 2024 when legendary YouTube sensation Sam Sulek announced to the world that he was leaving Hosstile Supps. Although the young bodybuilder had a noteworthy level of success on his own, the fact that he was able to link up with one of the most successful supplement companies in the world was certainly a monumental achievement in his career. You have to understand that in the world of muscle it is almost imperative for the athlete to compete.
I definitely will not tell you that the industry has not changed over the years. It used to be imperative for a competitor to be at the Top 10 NPC national level in order to even be considered for a contract. Even then there were very few athletes that would get them. Guys like Craig Titus perhaps were the exception but the vast majority of the time competitors had to earn a pro card before they would get any serious consideration. And even once pro, many companies expected an athlete to win something substantial – whether an NOC, Arnold Classic, or Pro Iron Man. It had to be something along those lines. Competing at the Olympia-level was also considered something that top pros had on their resumes.
In fact, in order to get a sizeable contract, that was the only way to get a call back. This was also a time when the magazines dominated the sport, whether you were in Flex Magazine, Muscular Development, Muscle Mag or Planet Muscle that also had a pretty big impact on whether or not you would get picked up by one of the big companies like MuscleTech, BSN, GAT or the others. Nowadays, however, it’s all about your following. It doesn’t really matter if you have a pro card or if you have a pro win so long as you have people that listen to you and follow you on a daily basis on social media. That being said, it is still preferred to have sponsored athletes that at least compete on a local or regional level. It just makes for a rounded out sponsored athlete.
Sam is a bit of an anomaly because of the fact that he commands such a large social media base. A guy like Fouad who has one of the fastest growing supplement companies in the world, not to mention the most popular podcast in the fitness industry in Bro Chat, would normally not look twice at a guy like Sulek. That being said, nobody can argue the metrics. It goes back to dollars and cents.
Even though Sam has never competed in a single bodybuilding show that I’m aware of – he makes money. And that is also noteworthy because simply having likes or followers does not always translate to sales. We have seen over the years how discount codes are very much hit or miss. We have also seen how giving competitors affiliate links can leave much to be desired. This is the cat and mouse game between supplement companies and athletes. You may have an athlete that thinks he or she is bigger than what they actually are. You may also have a company paying a lot more money out than money coming in. Then what you have is somebody getting royally screwed if not both parties at the same time taking a bath.
The bodybuilding world has totally changed from a business standpoint.
Many companies no longer advertise. They don’t see the ROI, or return on investment. They also do not sponsor bodybuilding shows, they do not have tables at large expos, and they also do not typically offer discounts. Companies that offer discounts generally can never again sell at full cost again. The bigger the discount, the bigger savings, right? Well, yes, consumers don’t appreciate savings in our world. Too many savings, might mean the company is desperate.
It’s the same with Walmart. Once you have a product on Walmart shelves you will sell quickly but you can never sell topshelf at GNC or Vitamin World again. Once you are associated with Walmart you are now a discount supplement. Discount supplements do not sell for top dollar and do not get put in the little plastic-looking-glass-case at most of the high-end supplement retailers. That being said, companies want to look fresh and cutting edge. This is why so many products nowadays are basically vanilla in concept. They don’t have any cutting edge ingredients and they also don’t have very much along the lines of r&d, or research and development. Most of the money goes into sponsoring influencers in hopes of making sales. One of the companies that did this to the max, was Bang! Energy under the ownership of Jack Owoc. Jack is no longer the owner and Bang! has completely changed gears in terms of their marketing and sponsorships, but back in the day, if you were big on social, you got a deal with them. They didn’t just want some of the major players – they wanted them ALL!! And they could care less if they competed or not.
The race to sign influencers continues. And it’s for this reason that I think Sam not renewing his contract with Hosstile was a bit of a mistake. I believe that he could have asked for pretty much anything and gotten it, however, he may want to go off on his own for other reasons. There is a value to doing that, but there are also huge risks that the athlete takes. The value Is that he can cut out the middleman and be the face and the power behind his own supplement line. The risk, however, is that he has to put the startup money up, he has to ensure that his products sell, and he also has to make sure that his products are being put before the eyes of consumers. He will have a very difficult time running the day-to-day operations of his own supplement company while still putting out the normal flow content. He may also not want to start his own supplement company, which is usually a complete waste of time, but instead sign with a different company. That being said, I don’t know of too many companies that are going to match what he was making with Hosstile and even fewer that are going to pay him more. There is also a secondary danger to the position that he put himself in.
If an athlete is considered to be disloyal, no matter how popular he may be, it presents a risk to future companies that may want to work with him. Negotiating a contract renewal is usually pretty simple, depending on who your manager or agent is. it really should not be all that difficult. Breaking with a company, however, will inadvertently hurt an athlete’s reputation.
Look at Jay Cutler with MuscleTech or Ronnie Coleman with BSN or Dennis wolf with German American technologies (GAT). These guys stayed with these companies for a very long period of time. Or like Kai Greene with Muscle Meds.
Once an athlete becomes associated with a company and vice versa, then you have a solid relationship. Think of Evan Centopani and Universal. That was a relationship that went the distance. Now all of a sudden you have Sam who has been with the Hosstile for all of one year and did not renew. That doesn’t really look all that promising for the next company that’s going to invest in him. And that’s just it, Hosstile put a lot into Sam Sulek.
Even on his video stating that he was no longer going to work with Hosstile, Sam expressed gratitude for the fact that the company took him around the world, took him to the Arnold Classic, and took him to the Mecca of Bodybuilding Gold’s Gym Venice. By his own admission, the company did everything to further him as a fitness celebrity. and how did he repay them? He went for the door.
Again, I’m not saying Sam made the wrong move, I’m also not saying he made the right one. I’m just saying that by leaving after just one year he may appear to be somewhat of a liability to other companies that may want to work with him. I will tell you that if I owned a company, I would rather work with somebody that I knew was loyal and that I knew I could work with in order to stay, than working with a superstar that could bring me big revenue for a short amount of time. This industry – when you really get down to the nitty gritty – is all about loyalty. I totally understand wanting to make money and wanting to prosper, but if you’re not loyal – you’re not going to go very far.
That said, if working conditions are unfavorable and there truly is no way to make them better, then yes, walking away and doing so with class may not be the worst thing to do, either. but that’s just it, we really don’t know why these guys could not have a meeting of the minds. We just know that they’re not going to be working together in the future.
As always I hope you enjoyed reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine. Be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on your social media feeds. It’ll definitely generate some healthy discussions.
What do you think happened here? Do you think Sam should have left? Do you think Sam should have stayed?
